Iowa Farmboy meets Southern Belle, girl finishes college and moves from Georgia to Iowa to be closer to boy, boy marries girl, boy's job takes them both to Belo Horizonte, Brasil. One year later they have a baby (Gabriela Marina), another year passes and they move back to Iowa. A few months later they have a 2nd baby (Lilian Scarlett). The 3rd girl (Makayla Jasmine) joins the family a couple years after that. Boy continues job with a construction equipment maufacturing company in Burlington, Iowa; girl attempts to balance being a stay at home mom while working as a birth doula and childbirth educator.

We laugh a lot, travel as often as we can, and try to enjoy every moment of the craziness that is our lives. Thanks for joining us on the journey!

Friday, September 26, 2008

In Case You Were Worried We Might Get Bored . . .

Actual conversations from the last few weeks:

While running some errands around town:Emily: Hey, maybe we should stop and grab a bite to eat first.Eric: Let's get this done first and then . . .Emily: Have I mentioned I get a little homicidal-feeling when I'm hungry?Eric: Or, um, yeah, we could eat now. Now sounds great, Dear.

While watching the movie P.S. I Love You:Eric: Are you crying?Emily: Maybe.Eric: Why? This part isn't sad at all!!!Emily: Yes it is!Eric: (taking a better look) You've been crying for a while!Emily: Yeah, a little . . . for the last hour.Eric: But, the movie has only been playing for 40 minutes!?!Emily: (sniff, sniff) But I already knew the story line.

On any given day:Eric: Have you had a nap?

On any given day:Eric: You should probably take a nap.

Upon examining the freezer contents:Eric: I thought we had ice cream.Emily: Yeah, we DID.

At the doctor's office, after an exam (translated from Portuguese):Doctor: You need to not eat. You don't need to gain weight.Inside Eric's Head: Oh good grief, did she really just say that to my wife? Please, please, please Lord, let my wife not kill this doctor right now. I cannot deal with Brasilian police right now. Maybe Emily didn't understand that. Yeah. Please, please, please Lord let Emily not understand Portuguese right now.(Yeah, really. A doctor said that. But more about that another day.)

Waking Emily up from a nap:Eric: (in his most gentle voice) Hey Sweetie, how are you feeling?Emily: A little bit like I want to puke on you right now.

While watching an American Football game on TV real late at night (like, you know, 8:30 pm or so):Eric: Oh, man! That was a great play! Hey Babe, did you see that?Emily: Zzzzzzzzz Zzzzzzzzzz

On a Sunday morning:Eric: Hey Babe, you awake?Emily: (rubbing her eyes) Huh?Eric: (surveying the situation at hand) How about you stay here, I'll make some breakfast, and bring it to bed.Emily: (rolling over and going back to sleep) Huh? Yeah. Okay. Zzzzzzzz

At the ultrasound lab Monday (translated from Portuguese):Doctor: (pointing things out on the screen) And there are two feet, there are the two legs, there is the spinal column, there are the two arms, two hands . . . and that is one nice strong heartbeat!Eric and Emily: (speechless, just great big grins plastered on their faces)Eric: (after a few more moments and breathing a deep sigh of relief) Oh, thank God! There's only one!(I've had a couple friends have twins in the last year.)

Yep, that's right! Eric and Emily are about to start a whole new adventure! Z Baby is supposed to make his/her grand appearance on the scene around April 11. We couldn't be more excited!

What we saw on the ultrasound screen was so much clearer and better than what you can make out in the fuzzy printout. You could literally count fingers and toes and see facial features. Z Baby looks much less alien-ish and much more human-like in real life! He/She was busy kicking, waving, and rolling around during the ultrasound . . . it was just too cute!

To answer all the inevitable questions:

-We are 12 weeks along as of Sunday.

-No, we didn't just find out. We were waiting until the end of the first trimester to share the big news.

-Yes, we planned this.

-Yes, we plan to have Z Baby in Brasil.

-"Z Baby" is a play on "the baby" and our last name, which starts with the letter Z. I made it up so I don't have to call our child "it" right now.

-Yes, he/she will have dual citizenship.

-Yes, we plan on finding out whether it's a boy or a girl through ultrasound. We don't have the patience to wait until birth - way too excited!

-Yes, we are very comfortable with the doctors and hospitals here.

-I am doing great and feeling good, just tired.

-No, I haven't gained any weight yet, but my current weight has shifted around a good bit. :) I'm totally losing my waist!

-With the exceptions of a few days early on, I've been blessed to have missed out on morning sickness - thanks to a low dose B6 vitamin the doctor prescribed after a couple sick days.

-Eric has been an awesome Daddy-to-be! He's gone to all of my doctor's appointments with me, to the ultrasound, and even to the lab when they had to draw something like 87 vials of blood. He tries to make sure I get a nap in (although that's sort of like making sure a two year old takes a nap . . . everyone's happier that way.) He only picks on me a little bit about my insane sleepiness, my all-of-a-sudden-can't-wait-one-more-second-to-eat hunger, my lack of patience these days, and my desire to sleep instead of, oh I don't know, mop the floor, clean the bathroom, or wash the dishes or doing something strenuous, like watching TV. I'm hoping that as I enter my second trimester I can gain some energy back and get back to pampering my hubby a little. But meanwhile, he's been incredible!

-Yes, I realize some of you are going to kill us for making you to find out this way. My sincerest apologies. Just. too. tired. to. spend. all. day. calling. (Yawn!)

Oh my gosh, that is awesome!!! I'm so excited for you guys! You are going to make such great parents. And how fun to have a baby in Brasil! Just watch out for their super high c-section rate (it's so common my mother-in-law asked me when I was scheduled for my c-section instead of when i was due).

@Mamasphere: its true about C-section. But that happens because brazilian women want it. My girlfriend has 3 sisters. (yeah, big family, her father kept trying a boy but ended up giving up)

Anyway, NONE of them want to HEAR about normal delivery. I keep saying C-sections are not so common in the first world, etc. But they dont want to know. They dont want to deal with the pain, nor the trouble of not having an specific date for delivery... and also they can point me out many more cases of childbirth problems with normal delivery than c-section (including relatives of them)... so I am left without arguments.

Brazilian women consider C-section a "modern woman" right as much as the pill...

CONGRATULATIONS Emily and Eric!!!! Now you will have great stories to share with us.Just one thing please teach the Z baby play both soccer and football. He/She can be a Brazilian soccer fan and an American football fan :)Congrats Again!!!

How exciting... At Jersey's wedding Matt & Tammy brought their little girl, so everyone was asking us when it would be our turn to share the news... now the pressure is on more as we follow the wedding order!

Good luck, good health, and I'll be looking forward to reading more about your experience. Nursing school has not prepared me enough... though I'm not sure anything can. =)